Sushil Kumar is one of the sporting icons of the country which has been highlighted by the Indian Olympic Association as well when they announced his name as the flag-bearer of the national contingent for the London Games. Now the entire nation is looking forward to Sushil bettering the Beijing bronze in London. (AFP Photo)

The wait was long, but it was worth it. A total of 56 years separated India's two wrestling medals.

It took a young jat from Baprola village near Delhi in 2008 to replicate the feat of the legendary 'Pocket Dynamo' KD Jadhav, bringing back a bronze medal -- one of India's handful of individual Olympic medals. The man is question was Sushil Kumar, who won three over an bring home a bronze in the 66kg freestyle category.

Son of Diwan Singh, a DTC bus driver, Sushil took up wrestling following in the footsteps of his cousin Sandeep. His father himself was a pehelwan. Sushil started training at the Chattrasal Stadium in New Delhi at the age of 14 but, Sushil coming from a family of limited means, it was always an uphill struggle.

Sushil was groomed by the likes of Arjuna award-winning wrestler Satpal and Railways coach Gyan Singh. His first professional success came at the World Cadet Games in 1998, where he won a gold. He went on to claim bronze in the Asian Wrestling Championship followed by a gold in the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships.

His first Olympic appearance in 2004 Athens Games though went largely unnoticed as he ended up 14th. Sushil though bounced back with gold medals in the Commonwealth Championships in 2005 and 2007. His piece de resistance, though, came at the Beijing Games in 2008. Preparations for the bouts -- August 20, 2008 -- began a day earlier immediately after the weigh-in, according to his mentor Satpal.

"Sushil was feeling quite weak and sleepy as he had to lose a lot of weight before the weigh-in. But we couldn't have allowed him to sleep early a day before the bout, so we fed him well and immediately asked him to get a hot shower," Satpal told TOI.

Sushil, who was one of 11 wrestlers to get a bye through to the second round, faced Ukrainian Andriy Stadnik. After a close Round One which Sushil lost 1-2, Stadnik completely dominated the Indian in the second winning 6-0.

Now, Sushil's only hope of winning a medal hinged on Stadnik reaching the final. "I was very nervous heading into Beijing because I had not performed well in Athens. In my first bout against Stadnik, I made a few mistakes which cost me in the end. But after that loss, somehow the pressure was off my shoulders and I just knew what I needed to do," Sushil said about his first bout in Beijing.

As Stadnik went on to win a silver in the 66kg category, it provided an opportunity to Sushil to win bronze via the repechage. Incidentally, all three repechage bouts of Sushil went down to the wire. In the first match, Sushil faced American Doug Schwab which he won 4-1, 0- 1, 3-2 which gave him more confidence for his next bout against Albert Batyrov of Belarus which he won 1-0, 0-4, 7-0.

The bronze medal bout against Leonid Spiridonov of Kazakhstan was also a closely-fought affair which Sushil won 2-1, 0-1, 1-0. "There are no easy matches in the Olympics. Sushil went up against the top-10 wrestlers in the world in the repechage round as well. After every match though, he sought me out in the crowd and climbed over the seats to seek my blessings," Satpal said about the day Sushil won the historic bronze.

The 29-year-old has continued to build on the Beijing success. He went on to become the first Indian to win a World Championships gold medal which he did in 2010 in Moscow and followed it up with a gold in the Delhi Commonwealth Games as well.

Sushil is one of the sporting icons of the country which has been highlighted by the Indian Olympic Association as well when they announced his name as the flag-bearer of the national contingent for the London Games. Now the entire nation is looking forward to Sushil bettering the Beijing bronze in London.